(Note: I swiped the title(s) of my post from Shortpurge and Amit)

In Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Sanjay Dutt has a visitation from “Bapu,” and afterwards starts trying live in a more Gandhian way. The film is technically the sequel to the superhit from 2003, Munna Bhai, M.B.B.S., but wisely goes off on a completely different direction from the first film (you don’t need to have seen Munna 1 to enjoy this). The “dadagiri” is the same (just wanted an excuse to use the word “dadagiri”), as is the “everyman triumphs against heartless bureaucracy” theme, but the story and the shape of the two films couldn’t be more different.

One of my favorite bits: at one point, Munna is getting smacked around by a security guard employed by his nemesis, the heartless builder Lucky Singh. After getting slapped once, he gamely turns the other cheek. After getting slapped twice, he gives the guy a big, “baap re baap” punch in the gut, which knocks the guy across the street. Munna’s sheepish explanation: “Bapu never said what to do after they’ve hit both of your cheeks.”

Now that’s the kind of Gandhianism I like. And indeed, this is the kind of Bollywood I like. (Manish, who is pretty choosy with regards to Bollywood, also liked it; in fact, we went to see it largely on his recommendation). The humor is sweet, the songs are energetic and relatively “traditional,” and everything is actually in good taste for once. Moreover, the Mahatma Gandhi part of the plot is the excuse for an admirable, relatively non-dogmatic social message. At the theater where I saw it last night, in Doylestown, PA, the audience all came out looking well-pleased.Apoo from Baltimore liked the film as well, calling it a “laugh riot.” He also says that Vidya Balan is so gorgeous in Lage Raho, she takes the “Droolotrophy” from Diya Mirza! I don’t know if Diya Mirza ever had my droolotrophy, but I have to concur on Vidya Balan.

Bloggers have even begun to write their own “Munna Bhai” style jokes based on the style of the comedy in these films: see Preetinder, in Patiala. And this blogger went ahead and did the guitar tablature for “Par Pal Har Pal,” one of the film’s better songs.

And Bollywood Fans Deutschland says:

LRMB ist ein sehr witziger Film, mit sympathischen Charakteren, Tanz, Gesang und einer rührenden Story. Es wird geheiratet, ein Familiendrama spielt eine Rolle, und so erhält man einen typischen BOLLYWOOD-Handlunsgsstrang witzig erzählt. (link)

Couldnt agree more. Especially about the Handlunsgsstrang part — how true.